On road number 5 in Kigali, a line of cars speeds by and the speed camera pole takes a photo. They don't care, they know that the fine will be removed; They are official cars of the Tour of Rwanda cycling race. It is Sunday, February 25, and it is the final stage of the 27th edition of this test, a national pride. Seconds later, the peloton passes by with dozens of cyclists, including the four-time winner of the Tour de France, the Kenyan-born Briton Chris Froome. Next year the Road Cycling World Championship will be held in those same streets. There are no holes or potholes, everything is perfectly signposted and order is extreme. 30 years ago, in that same place where cyclists pedal, barricades were set up on the road and hundreds of people were murdered with machetes.
Walking through the streets of Kigali, the Rwandan capital, today, it is difficult to think that three decades ago, in April 1994, a genocide was being perpetrated there, unleashed after the attack that ended the life of the Rwandan president. Juvénal Habyarimana, of the Hutu ethnic group. It is estimated that around 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus who supported them were murdered by some 200,000 radicalized Hutus in a campaign of ethnic violence that lasted a hundred days. The Hutus were 85% of the population and the Tutsis, 14% - the Twa ethnic group represented the remaining 1%.
Rwanda, under the presidency of 66-year-old former military leader Paul Kagame and almost a quarter of a century in power, has evolved to be one of the cleanest, safest and most modern countries in sub-Saharan Africa. He has achieved it, however, with a Government that has imposed with a heavy hand an uncomfortable silence in the streets—condoned by the international community and its feeling of guilt over that massacre—and that has managed to outsource its wars to neighboring countries. . “Our journey has been long and hard,” Kagame said this Sunday during the commemoration events of the 30 years of genocide. “Rwanda was completely overwhelmed by the scale of our loss and the lessons we learned are etched in blood.”
When the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ended up tearing down, in November 2023, the British Government's agreement with Rwanda - which Rishi Sunak's Executive is still trying to make effective - to send asylum seekers arriving on its islands there , did so claiming that the African country “was not safe.” But if you drive through the streets of Kigali or the border town of Gisenyi at night, nothing will happen to you. Extreme policing, with units constantly patrolling, makes Rwanda the safest country in Africa in several rankings. All as long as the Government is not criticized.
Agreement with the United Kingdom
The Rwandan Executive harshly punishes those who have gone outside the official line, even in exile. The 2014 assassination in South Africa of Patrick Karegeya, a former Rwandan intelligence chief who fell out of favor with Kagame, is proof of this. The South African Prosecutor's Office saw in his death “direct links” with the Rwandan Government, although he could not be held accountable for any political position.
The British Justice took into account the threats to dissidents reported by human rights organizations such as Humans Rights Watch, which has documented at least a dozen kidnappings and murders abroad.
“I was disappointed by the British Government when they said that Rwanda is a safe country. I am convinced that they know the problem of human rights,” says opposition member Victoire Ingabire, in a telephone conversation with EL PAÍS. “First, I oppose this policy because it is illegal and, furthermore, Rwanda has limited resources to find lasting solutions for migrants,” she adds. Rwanda is smaller in size than Galicia and has a population of 13.2 million people, six times more. After Mauritius, it is the country in Africa with the highest population density with 546 people per square meter and demographic growth is one of its main challenges.
Victoire Ingabire, main opponent of the Government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, during an interview with EL PAÍS, at her home in Kigali, in June 2023.Albert Garcia
Ingabire is one of the few opponents of the Kagame regime who continues to live in Kigali and try to exercise politics. She returned to her country after 16 years in the Netherlands to be the candidate of an opposition coalition for the presidency in 2010. During the campaign she was arrested and two years later sentenced to an eight-year sentence that ended up being extended to 15 for a crime of conspiracy. to destabilize the country and denial of genocide.
In 2018, Kagame released her along with 2,140 other political prisoners in a gesture to the international community that suggested he was going to open political space. In 2021, the Government arrested nine members of his political party, Dalfa-Umurinzi. In July of this year, Rwanda holds elections and Ingabire will not be able to run as confirmed by the electoral commission due to her previous conviction. “The government rejects my participation because I am popular among Rwandans, that is why Kagame does not want to compete against me,” she says. In 2017, Kagame won at the polls with 98.8% of the votes and it is expected that in these elections, the result will be similar.
Kagame claims that Rwandans are “happy” with their government and that is why there are no protests, but repression makes free expression impossible. In 2013, nine members of a Catholic group asked him for greater political openness at a demonstration. All nine were arrested.
Genocide as a political weapon
Every year, Rwanda celebrates
kwibuka
– “remember” in Kinyarwanda, the local language – commemoration events that remember the massacre of the genocide. “If we don't organize the
kwibuka
, we can forget… Memory is very important in human life because it helps us learn,” says Napthali Ahishakiye, the secretary general of Ibuka, the largest association of genocide survivors in Rwanda. The Kagame Government seeks to remember this episode every day and teaches it from fifth grade in schools. In January of this year, Ibuka led the operation in which 119 bodies from the genocide were unearthed, still hidden in a private plot. Ahishakiye says, however, that it is not possible to know with certainty how many remain to be unearthed.
For the secretary general, the biggest challenge they face is that they cannot control the denial of the genocide. “Many things can be taught from the Government, Ibuka or in schools, but at home parents can tell another story. ”, assures Ahishakiye. “The genocidal ideology is still there. There are fewer and fewer cases and as the years go by they decrease, but even if there was only one case it would still be a problem,” he says.
Despite advocating for national unity at home, where talking about ethnicity is taboo, the Rwandan government continues to use genocide and ethnic division to justify its actions in the neighboring country. The UN, France and the United States have accused the Rwandan Executive of financing and arming the M23 rebel group, with a Tutsi majority, which has surrounded the city of Goma, in Congo. In February, their clashes with the Congolese army and UN blue helmets added 144,000 new displaced people to the more than seven million spread across the country. 80% of them take refuge in the east, according to data from the International Organization for Migration.
“Every time [the M23] is successful they accuse us of being behind, but of course the support of the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) worries us. For us it is a national security problem,” the spokesperson for the Rwandan army, Brigadier General Ronald Rwivanga, assures EL PAÍS. The soldier denies involvement and says that if there are troops on the border it is only for defense, although he admits that they should take more measures.
The Congolese government accuses Kagame of seeking its minerals. Eastern Congo has two-thirds of the world's cobalt and half of the coltan, vital minerals for electric batteries to which gold, uranium or diamonds are added. The value of these untapped resources is estimated at 24 trillion dollars (22.5 trillion euros), almost 100 times more than the entire US economy. In contrast, Rwanda has practically no natural resources.
The Government of Rwanda receives more than 1 billion dollars (922 million euros) in development aid from various partners every year, the largest per capita in all of Africa, which represents 15% of its GDP and up to 40% of the budget. national. The European Union financed the Rwandan Government with 260 million euros from 2021 to 2024, to which is added concrete aid such as the 300 million euro package for private investment in climate resilience. “The international community has this feeling of guilt for not having done anything [during the genocide] and the Rwandan government exploits it,” says opposition member Ingabire.
With that money, Rwanda has been able to strengthen its army, as well as show a good image and become a vital security partner abroad. The country has gone from having a peace mission in its country to being the fourth largest contributor of troops to the UN with 5,919 peacekeepers - they operate in countries such as Sudan, Central African Republic and South Sudan -, slightly behind Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Recently, the Government has signed agreements with countries such as the Central African Republic and Mozambique, immersed in the fight against rebels and jihadists, securing contracts for Rwandan companies in exchange.
Brand development
Kigali has also carried out a strong public relations and image improvement campaign with initiatives such as the Visit Rwanda brand, very present in the world of sports. The hosting of major events such as the Cycling World Cup next year has also included the annual FIFA Congress in 2023 or the Basketball Africa League, the largest continental club tournament organized by the NBA since 2021. Added to this is sponsorship to soccer teams such as the French Paris Saint-Germain, the British Arsenal and the German Bayern Munich, for a sum of between 8 and 12 million dollars each season.
The opposition claims that the Government should invest more in modernizing agriculture, which still employs two out of three Rwandans. Despite the image of development, almost half of the population still lives in poverty, according to the United Nations Development Program.
In 30 years, Rwanda has moved forward in leaps and bounds. Now, the news that reaches international newspapers is usually positive, among other things because, with 61.3% of the seats, it is the country with the most women parliamentarians in the world. However, far from Congress, the lack of stable job opportunities extends for the majority, with 90% of people living in the informal sector. Infrastructure is insufficient beyond the capital and wealth does not reach citizens, who still live with an average GDP per capita of less than a thousand dollars annually.
Three decades after the genocide, silence is Rwanda's greatest enemy. “Rwandans keep everything inside, they don't speak and, when they can't take it anymore, they explode; "You see what happened in 1994," says Ingabire, who recalls that, in the country's history, power has been obtained through violence due to the lack of alternatives. The opposition believes that it cannot be taken for granted that something like the genocide will not happen again. “They are creating the same environment that led to the conflict in 1994. I hope the international community does not make the same mistake,” she says.
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